BURNEY, Calif. (Nov 1, 2023) – On the first day of Native American Heritage Month, the Pit River Nation is underscoring the urgent need to protect ancestral homelands and spiritual sites currently managed by the US Forest Service in Northern California. The Pit River Nation is calling on President Biden and California’s federal delegaon to put in place national monument protecons for a lile more than 200,000 acres in the Medicine Lake Highlands about 30 miles from Mount Shasta, known as Sátíttla.
“For generaons we have fought to protect and to defend our lands, our waters and our people,” said Yatch Bamford, Chairman of the Pit River Nation. “Today we call upon the world to recognize the profound significance of our lands, to join us in their defense, and to work alongside us in ensuring permanent protecon. Together, let us elevate our collecve voice. Sátíttla must be protected and we call for its designation as a national monument, not just for our Tribal cizens but for all of life that depends on it.”
Sátíttla holds profound cultural significance for numerous Indigenous Peoples near and far including the Pit River, Modoc, Shasta, Karuk, and Wintu Nations, serving as a site for ceremonies and tradional pracces sll today. The Highlands also play a pivotal role in providing water to California residents downstream. Aquifers below the surface store as much water as California’s 200 largest surface reservoirs and deliver up to 1.4 million acre-feet of pure water to the Fall River Springs, the state’s largest spring system, which flows into Shasta Lake Reservoir, and supplies water to Central Valley agriculture and millions of people downstream.
